‘Any doctor who says it’s not about money is usually coming from a position of privilege – they’ve not had money worries like the rest of us’
One in five doctors are considering leaving the UK to work abroad, the regulator has found.
The General Medical Council has warned without more being done to keep doctors in the NHS the Government’s pledge to cut hospital waiting lists is at risk. The GMC poll of 4,700 doctors showed 19% were considering a move abroad and the main reason given was that they are “treated better” in other countries. Better pay was cited as the second most common reason for plans to emigrate.
The Mirror has spoken to a former NHS resident doctor who moved to Australia in 2023 who has explained why doctors are choosing to work Down Under.
Dr Simon Fleming, 42, had worked a placement in Australia during his earlier training years before making the decision to permanently emigrate. He said: “During my training it was a real shock to me quite how stark the differences are for doctors in Australia compared to the UK.
“Here there is a better appreciation of work life balance and the remuneration is significantly better. A lot of people who say ‘it’s not about money, being a doctor is a vocation’ are usually coming from a position of privilege. They haven’t had money worries like a lot of us do.
“I moved from London where I was struggling to pay my electric bills in a two-bed apartment. I now live in a house with a pool. I feel extremely privileged to be very comfortable now. When I first came here I was still training and I was earning more than a consultant salary in the UK in a better resourced department.”
Simon had worked in the NHS since 2006 and upon completing his training in the UK in 2023 says he took home £4,200 a month. He then moved to be a doctor in Sydney where, with on-call work, he would earn between £5,000 and £7,000 a month. Now after qualifying as a consultant and working in Queensland, with on-call work he brings home a salary of between £9,000 and £14,000 a month. And that is without doing private work.
It comes amid a bitter dispute between resident doctors and Health Secretary Wes Streeting which resulted in a five-day strike last month. The British Medical Association insists their pay must be improved to stop an exodus of doctors from the NHS.
The GMC report concluded: “We must be alive to the ongoing risks to retention of doctors and the impact of losing talented staff. This could threaten Government ambitions to reduce waiting times and deliver better care to patients.”
Some 43% of doctors told the GMC that they had researched career opportunities in other countries. It reports that 15% of doctors had taken “hard steps” towards leaving UK practice – such as applying for roles overseas or contacting recruiters.
Dr Fleming stresses that Australian salaries do vary by state and there are financial incentives to work at hospitals outside of the five biggest cities. He told the Mirror: “I’m a hand surgeon responsible for a large geographical area here so you really can make a difference to a lot of people’s lives. And that’s worth more than the money.
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“All my colleagues back home in the UK were describing being overstretched and burnt out. They were worried about not being able to provide the standard of care they wanted. The number of my colleagues who had been working so hard for five, ten, sometimes 20 years in training. I just got tired of setting fire to myself to keep other people warm.”
Resident doctors work in the NHS typically for between three and eight years while training on the job to become specialists and consultants. Under the current system they are rotated between posts with little say over where they go and how long they will work there.
Doctors say this constant upheaval makes it harder to settle and start a family, as well as build professional relationships.
The GMC reports that one in three doctors said they are unable to progress their education, training and careers in the way they want. Those who did not feel as though their careers were progressing the way they would wish were at higher risk of burnout and were less satisfied with their work.
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Simon, who is married and has a three-year-old daughter, added: “Coming to Australia was a decision I felt that was not just best for me but for my family. It’s that balance between live-to-work and work-to-live. It’s ok to say ‘my daughter’s got a dance show, can I move things around so I can go to that?’
“There are other things like, as a consultant I get a vehicle allowance. It’s bonkers really but they recognise that a significant part of our job is getting between different hospitals. In the UK we are hit by daily parking charges whereas over here I’m supported to buy a car.
“Around 30% to 40% of all the healthcare staff are not from Australia and that’s because of how we are looked after – and it really is the NHS’s loss. You don’t hear about many Australians looking to move.”
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has pledged that by 2029 the NHS in England will again meet a key target of 92% of patients being seen within 18 weeks for routine hospital treatment such as hip and knee replacements. This had been missed for a decade under previous Tory governments.
The GMC report comes as Health Secretary Wes Streeting and the British Medical Association (BMA) are locked in talks to avert further strike action by resident doctors after a five-day walkout in July. Resident doctors, formerly known as junior doctors, are in a dispute with the Government over pay and a lack of places for doctors in training.
Mr Streeting has said the Government cannot afford to improve on resident doctors’ headline pay rise of 5.4% for 2025/26 – which is the highest in the public sector – but he wants to improve progression and working conditions.
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “The Secretary of State had a constructive conversation with the BMA resident doctors co-chairs on tuesday and agreed to continue engagement through the summer with the aim of preventing further disruption to the NHS and patients.
“We have been clear that, following a 28.9% pay rise for resident doctors, we cannot go further on pay this year, but there is shared ambition to explore and address some of the unique additional costs that resident doctors incur through their training and work.”